The President's Message

March 2001

George Lakes

By the time you read this, we will have had the second meeting of the nominating committee on
Thursday, Feb. 15, at our home at 7 p.m. The committee members are Jim Pass, Ron Pinkerton, Roland
Fleig and Laura Pacheco. They have their work cut out for them. Our membership chairman, John
Godwin, has provided them with a query of names of the people who have attended at least eight
meetings during the past year. There are four positions that definitely need to be filled. The committee
will be calling on people to fill these vacancies.

The first is the president, as the current president (yours truly) will have completed his two years in
office as of the June meeting by the limits set by the constitution and bylaws. You can bet your life that
even though the bylaws are going to be brought into compliance with our previous changes, changing
presidential limits will not be one of them. The new president will assume duties at the July meeting.
These duties consist of running the general meeting each month with a prepared agenda, introducing
officers and asking for their reports, and introducing committee chair people who have reports to make.
Open up discussions of any old and new business. Run the Executive Board meetings with an agenda.
Take care of any administrative business and problems that may arise. Delegate responsibilities regarding
club activities. I have personally made it my responsibility to try to stay on top of illnesses and deaths
among the membership by sending appropriate cards. I, also, personally have taken on the task of
acquiring picture frames and assembling the certificates of appreciation that Helen Long has been
making for the club since we began doing this for our program presenters. I recently began picking up
the doughnuts and bringing them to the meetings. These last tasks could be delegated to other people.

We are very fortunate in having an excellent group of people working together as officers and
chair people. Many of these people will still be in place to help carry on and make the club run smoothly.

The second person that has to be selected by the nominating committee is that of membership
chairman. John Godwin has outlined the duties and responsibilities of the position. MS ACCESS is the
database program used to keep all of the membership records. The volunteer taking over this position
must either be reasonably proficient with this program or willing to learn the necessary functions of the
program. John is very willing to help the new person get started and become familiar with the program
and the necessary record-keeping. When John took on the job, he did it the hard way. He learned it on
his own from scratch and has organized and fine-tuned it. He is now ready and willing to pass on his
knowledge and skills to the new membership chairman.

The third position that needs to be filled is the Computer Show Chairperson. At this time, it is
suggested we find someone living in Oxnard. Since the Ventura County Fairgrounds has increased the
parking fee from $1 to $5 per car, the computer shows will probably no longer be held there. All shows
are currently going to be held at the Community Center in Oxnard on Hobson Way. So it makes sense to
have the chairperson live in Oxnard, as this person is the one who brings the club equipment and sets up
the booth and takes it down again at the end of the show, or makes arrangements for having it done. The
chairperson also lines up the roster of volunteers: two people from 10 until 12, two people from 12 until 2
and two people from 2 until 4. The last two people help disassemble the booth for pickup by the
chairperson or other designated person to take home and store until the next computer show. The
computer shows are scheduled months in advance. The nice thing about working the show is that when
you are finished with your two hours, you can tour the show for free.

You can look at, compare, and see some of the latest things in technology, hardware, software, etc.
Paddy Ruzella is willing to help the new person get started.

The fourth chairperson we need is for the advertising of the following: computer-related materials,
businesses and services only, in our monthly newsletter. Gracia Marks has resigned because of her
teaching workload. It has been suggested by members of the nominating committee that we could have
volunteers in each of the cities, including Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park, Camarillo, Oxnard, Port
Hueneme, Ventura and possibly Ojai, to procure advertisements. Having an individual volunteer who
lives in each city would simplify the workload with fewer miles to cover and time expended.

Please think seriously of filling one of these pairs of shoes so our club can continue to go forward
and prosper and have continued success.